Hello and welcome back! It’s been about a year since I’ve hung out around here and I was surprised that I was away so long. My beer blog seems to have dominated 2011! Doh! TRAITOR! LOL!
Anyway, I’m going to try and find an interesting and entertaining way to get back in to Wine but I don’t know when that’s going to be, so don’t hold your breath. Just hold your spot on the guest list by subscribing to the blog and you’ll be the first to know when the Wino articles and juices start flowing again!
By Thomas Sinclair & Kamary Phillips
It’s no secret that grape skin extract contains an incredible anti-oxidant, called Resveratrol. So, it almost goes without saying, because it’s pretty logical, that its highest concentration is found in red wine. Now, with that in mind, there’s no more delectable way to get your daily “anti-oxidant dose” as in drinking a glass of red wine, right?! Well, maybe. Read on.
Okay, I know some of you are wondering what the hell an anti-oxidant is and what it’s good for. I know because I was just like you before I wrote this, LOL! So, for the record;
An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules.
And what good is all that, you might ask? Well, inhibiting molecules is essentially a way to influence good health and life longevity. That’s all. 🙂 The 60 MINUTES video below is a great watch, however focuses on a particular company pioneering this field.
Drinking red wine daily is a good thing. Yeah, sure–in moderation. There are a number of scientific and cultural studies supporting that frequent wine drinking (a glass a day) has positive health benefits. Europeans have known this for decades, with France leading the way statistically, in terms of healthy citizens. Wine drinking is an important part of the French culture and they have far fewer cases of heart disease and diabetes as the United States.
In our bodies, one of the bad proteins which causes atherosclerosis (heart disease) is called Endothelin-1. Scientific research has proven that consuming red wine stops this protein from developing, or reduces its presence if developed already. One particular study conducted with red wine consumption, saw that in 68% of participants there was a reduction in the development of that naughty Endothelin-1.
Grape skins are filled to the brim with plant polyphenols and polyphenols are naturally produced by the grape to protect them from disease and this is what they do for us when they are consumed. Everything in moderation is the key, and only one glass a day should be consumed, although some will inevitably drink more. That’s a Wino for ya, ha! But if for some reason you are unable to drink red wine at all (and the point of living would be…?), it is available in supplement form.
Go ahead and watch the clip to learn far more than I can pass on in this article. At any rate, drink a glass of wine a day. What the hell, you’ve got nothing to lose and quite possibly more than just great taste and a good buzz to gain.
Wine on.
Anyway, pleased to help and would love to try some Passaggio Wine sooner than later myself. Had it? Comment and let us know your thoughts. Meanwhile, I’ll be blogging and tweeting about this action in all the usual places.
Wine on…
No, instead it’s meant to praise all the forgotten and overlooked HOTTIES that, just as I, believed in the promise of a golden opportunity within the professional realm of Wine, should they be lucky enough to be chosen from well over 1000 global hopefuls.
Naw, was a load of crap and these little darlings are all the better for not having made the TOP 3, as I did back then. The top 3, as it were, are those candidates from the TOP 10 that were publically promised jobs at an open press conference. And where is my gig, I humbly ask? (sounds of crickets…)
At any rate ladies, you can bet you weren’t chosen because the judges were mostly women. 🙂 Wine on…
I cannot lie…I haven’t tasted everywhere in Temecula. Some places I will talk about that I haven’t tasted at in a long time. However, in addition to the delightful (and some horrific) taste sensations I have experienced combined with what I can draw from the experiences of my fellow wine stewards, I believe I can give you all at least some good general guidelines to places to visit depending on what kind of day you would like to have in this little but very interesting wine valley.
Tour #1: I will call this the “Bachelorette/Birthday Party of People who don’t really drink wine but go winetasting anyway” Tour. Sometimes there are serious wine drinkers in these groups, but actually placing something delectable on one’s palate is really not the focus for these folks. I base my advice on where to go on a few different aspects of the joint. Things to look for in this case might be:
– Large rooms (noisy drunk high-pitched voices more tolerable)
-Sweet wines/Champagnes (lets face it…the point is not to experience the perfect balance of tannins, oak and acidity)
-Food (there may come a moment when being able to sit and eat is essential).
-Gift Shop (for those ladies who find even the sweetest, softest wines unpalatable and are along for the ride or for the Moms who don’t want to hover while their daughter gets shit-faced).
-Places to sit. So no one has to fall down.
For this tour I recommend in no particular order, Wilson Creek Winery (home of the famous (or infamous?) Almond Champagne), South Coast Winery (equipped with an entire hotel for serious partiers), Ponte Winery, Longshadow Ranch and Winery (this place is actually on every list and can accommodate any group), Maurice Carrie (great little farmers market on the weekends), and Mount Palomar (purely because they have a deli, which means quick food when you need it).
Not to say the mentioned wineries don’t have fabulous wines, authentic winemaking traditions and values, but let’s face it those aren’t high on the priority list for this tour.
Tour #2: This would be the “All around interested in wines but no specific agenda or palate tour”. This is my personal favorite kind of group to deal with, because people are interested in learning, in stories, and are very open to trying everything. The best wineries for this tour feature good examples of every wine genre’, an outgoing friendly staff, and a relaxed but still professional atmosphere.
Things to look for:
-A tasting list that is balanced and includes at least a few whites, reds and sweet wines.
-The servers must be friendly and not immediately seem wine-obsessed (even though many of us are) because this can be intimidating. Servers must also not be “pour and walk away” types. These are people who are looking to grow their wine spirit, if you will. So sharing about wine in a way that seems inclusive is very important.
-A great wine club. These are the people that will learn from being wine club members, and will remain loyal if their experience is great every time.
For Tour # 2, I would recommend the vast majority of wineries on the De Portola Wine Trail, which is a road that parallels the main drag about 2 miles to the south. There are about nine wineries over on the less beaten path, and some of the best experiences and low key atmospheres are found at Frangapani, Oak Mountain (who also feature Avocado Oil Tastings), Robert Renzoni and Cougar. On the main drag, try Wiens Family Cellars, Miramonte, Baily Winery, Cougar and Longshadow Ranch and Winery. Vindemia and Doffo are also nice little places, but have limited hours so check first!
Tour #3: The “I know wine, I have been to Napa/Italy/France (yadda yadda) so impress me”. This can be a great tour, or the absolute worst. I had some people the other day who missed out on some great wines because they had already decided they didn’t like them before they walked through the door. That honestly showed how little they actually know because while most grapes have distinct characteristics, there are no absolutes in wine making. From the region, the ever-changing terrior, the weather for that vintage, any grape can be almost unrecognizable from its counterparts of past years, other regions, etc. (I personally have fooled more than one fool who thought they “didn’t care for Merlot” by pouring it for them anyway unbeknownst to them). However, if this tour arrives with an open mind, friendly spirit and a honed palate they may really be the ones to get how special a wine region we have in Temecula.
Things to look for:
-Good freakin winemaking. Bottom line. First and foremost. Big place, or little place, family owned or corporate owned, doesn’t matter. That winemaker just needs to know his stuff. Period. With that said, my personal experience has been that the best wines are at places where the winemaker is also the winery owner or at least part owner and it’s a labor of love and a lifestyle, not just a business.
-Also helpful: Knowledgeable but smartly humble staff. It is great when we know our stuff but even better when we can actually be smart enough to stop and listen. This is often how I have learned about wines.
-Correctly priced wines: For these folks, it doesn’t matter if your wine costs ten bucks, or a hundred bucks, so long as the taste and quality justifies the price. The higher priced wines most often are the best tasting, but that often isn’t why they are more costly. The most intensely flavored, more complex wines come most often from grapes that have the lowest yield per acre. In other words, everything good at work in a vineyard (soil, minerals, sunlight, canopy, etc) is concentrated in fewer, maybe smaller berries so there may be a lot less juice to ferment but its far more interesting and concentrated. And thus, you get a lot less wine from your land and therefore it is more costly to make. Anyway, these people typically know all this stuff.
My suggestions for this tour are of course mostly the boutique wineries, which currently include Briar Rose, Doffo, Palumbo, and Gordon Baccus. Also serving high end, seriously good wines that may appeal to these honed palates are Wiens Family Cellars (fruit forward but big and balanced reds), Leonesse, Hart Winery (very highly oaked reds), Oak Mountain, Frangapani, Robert Renzoni, and Longshadow Ranch and Winery.
Hope this gives anyone who comes out this way at least a general framework to begin from….the rest is up to you! Cheers and see you on the Wine Trail…..
Peace, love and vino!
J.